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Little Gull

Little Gull

Hydrocoloeus minutus

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The Little Gull is the world's smallest gull, a delicate, tern-like species found mainly across the Palearctic, with a small population around North America's Great Lakes. It breeds on shallow lakes, marshes and bogs and winters at sea and on coasts. Breeding adults have a black hood and strikingly dark underwings, while young birds show a dark “W” across the upperwings.

Did you know?

  • It is the smallest gull in the world.
  • Its genus name Hydrocoloeus means “water jackdaw”.

About the species

Identification

A gull smaller than Black-headed Gull, whose head in summer is jet black (brown in Black-headed Gull). The upperparts are pale grey without black wingtips, the body white and the underwings clearly dark; it has a thin bill and orange-red legs. Non-breeding adults lose the hood but keep a dark ear spot. Young birds have a bold black “W” on the upperwing and a black tail band. Its flight is tern-like, and the calls are cackling.

Family

Laridae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

white, grey, black, red

About the habitat

Breeds on shallow lakes, marshes, bogs and flooded meadows with emergent vegetation; outside the breeding season large lakes, coastal lagoons, estuaries and open sea.

Diet

In the breeding season mainly flying insects, especially emerging aquatic insects, taken over water; outside it also small fish, crustaceans and marine invertebrates picked from the surface.

Behaviour

Flies buoyantly like a tern, hawking insects over water and fields and dipping to pick food from the surface. Sociable, it often breeds in loose colonies, sometimes with terns or Black-headed Gulls, nesting on the ground or floating vegetation. Outside the breeding season it gathers in flocks, sometimes very large in stormy weather.

Sources

Photo: Andrej Chudý from Slovakia, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Čajka malá (Larus minutus) a (4834254958).jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_gull

See also